The IRS granted individual taxpayers a waiver from the penalty for underestimated tax due solely to the amendment to Sec. 461(l)(1)(B) in the CARES Act repealing the excess business loss limitations for years before 2021.
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TOPICS / COVID-19
Advocacy & Tax Relief
Taxpayers need clarity on coordination of ERC and PPP loans
The AICPA asked the IRS and Treasury to clarify that the filing of a Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness application is not an election by the taxpayer to forgo the employee retention credit for wages reported on the application exceeding the amount of wages necessary for loan forgiveness.
Tax season preview
COVID-19 relief measures confront return preparers with novel predicaments. [Updated with tax provisions from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the COVID-19 relief package signed into law in late December 2020.]
COVID-19 relief bill addresses key PPP issues
The $900 billion COVID-19 relief package passed Monday provides $284 billion for a revised Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and clarifies that businesses can claim tax deductions for expenses paid for with forgiven PPP loans.
PPP expense deductibility and forgiveness raises basis, other issues
The potential for the deductibility of PPP-funded expenses raises some practice questions, and traps for the unwary lurk in the details.
Many tax provisions appear in year-end coronavirus relief bill
The year-end coronavirus relief and spending bill passed by Congress includes many tax provisions, including pandemic-related relief, extensions of expired provisions, and a large number of miscellaneous items, including temporary 100% deductibility for business meals.
AICPA tax policy and advocacy recommendations deliver results in 2020
Amid challenging circumstances, the AICPA’s tax policy and advocacy efforts provided successful results that benefited the accounting profession and taxpayers in 2020.
AICPA and trade associations ask Congress to fix PPP loan deductibility
In a letter to Congress, dated Dec. 3, hundreds of national trade associations and their state and regional affiliates asked that legislation be enacted before the end of 2020 reversing the IRS’s position that amounts forgiven in loans under the PPP be nondeductible business expenses.
AICPA mobilizes members to push for deductibility of PPP-funded expenses
The AICPA is asking its members to write to their senators and representatives in Congress in support of legislation that would mandate that anyone who receives a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program can deduct business expenses even when payment of those expenses results in loan forgiveness under the CARES Act.
IRS commissioner: Penalty relief will not be ‘blanket’
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told attendees at the AICPA National Tax & Sophisticated Online Tax Conference not to expect blanket penalty relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he addressed other effects of the pandemic on the agency.
IRS announces help with tax debt
The IRS said it was revising its procedures to help taxpayers who cannot pay their taxes because of the pandemic. The new program is called the Taxpayer Relief Initiative.
COVID-19 and withdrawals from retirement plans
Taxpayers under financial duress caused by the pandemic can avoid penalties.
Guidance on deferred employee payroll tax issued
The IRS issued guidance to employers and employees on reporting deferred Social Security tax on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, under the Aug. 8 Presidential Memorandum authorizing the deferral.
Template for requesting penalty abatement available from AICPA
The AICPA has created a template for members to use when requesting a penalty abatement from the IRS. Many taxpayers are receiving penalty notices after COVID-19 hampered their ability to meet tax filing obligations.
Several states provide one-month filing relief for corporate deadlines
With the Oct. 15 corporate tax filing deadline looming and the global pandemic still affecting taxpayers and practitioners, several states have provided one-month filing relief for their corporate Oct. 15 deadlines.
With Oct. 15 looming, some practitioners face daunting challenges
Tax practitioners have expressed concerns that they will not be able to meet upcoming Oct. 15 tax filing deadline for a variety of reasons related to the global pandemic.
E-filing problems plague some Sept. 15 tax returns
Some practitioners who attempted to file returns on Sept. 15 ran into technical difficulties that prevented them from e-filing returns by the midnight deadline. The AICPA is talking to the IRS about relief for the problem.
Implementing the payroll tax deferral, part 2
Treasury and the IRS have issued much-anticipated guidance on just how the deferral applies and how the taxes are likely to have to be repaid. Hear more in this podcast episode.
Pandemic makes meeting Sept. 15 filing deadline difficult
Tax practitioners have expressed concerns that they will not be able to meet looming Sept. 15 tax filing deadlines for a variety of reasons related to the global pandemic.
6 more IRS forms can be filed with e-signatures
The IRS added six more forms to the list of forms that can now be signed electronically to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
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